Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Orleans, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orleans and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Orleans
- Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Orleans:
- 43.448618, -95.087588
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Orleans
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Dickinson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Dickinson County
- Since Orleans is near Jackson County and also Emmet County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Jackson County
- eBird sighting report for Emmet County
- Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Orleans ...
We found nineteen communities that share the name Orleans.
There is one other community in Iowa which is also named Orleans.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another eighteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eighteen communities, eighteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Iowa ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Ontario
- This Orleans lies 972 miles [1,564.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Orleans that is located in Dickinson County.
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Vermont
Curious and Interesting Names Near Orleans ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
- Alpha
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast) - Ceylon
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ceylon have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ceylon
- Ceylon is located in Martin County (MN)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 337 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ceylon <5>
- Dickens
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickens
- Dickens is located in Clay County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 168 people
- Fallow
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast) - Harris
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
- Harris is located in Osceola County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 158 people
- Maple Hill
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Hill
- Maple Hill is located in Emmet County
- May City
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May City
- May City is located in Osceola County
- Round Lake
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Round Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Lake
- Round Lake is located in Nobles County (MN)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 364 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Round Lake <5>
- Spirit Lake
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spirit Lake
- Spirit Lake is located in Dickinson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,251 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spirit Lake <5>
- Superior
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Superior have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior
- Superior is located in Dickinson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 124 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Superior <5>
How Far From Orleans to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Orleans to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Orleans and extending to:
- Spirit Lake, which is the Seat of Dickinson County, lies just to the South Southwest.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 148 miles [238.2 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Orleans to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 987 miles [1,588.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,361 miles [10,237 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,116 miles [11,452.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,023 miles [8,083.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Orleans. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Dickinson County: www.co.dickinson.ia.us/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Orleans) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Orleans. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4486, Longitude: -95.0876 In this case, the coordinates for Orleans have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Orleans, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Orleans could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day. |
| <7> | The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Orleans to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.566 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.41 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.006 degrees. |